New student groups highlight Southeast Asian culture

Paula Chow, the director of the Davis International Center, and Trie Edi Mulyani, the consul general of the Indonesian embassy in New York, both spoke to an audience of about 100 students and faculty members.

The event was sponsored partly by Permias Princeton, a new Indonesian student group. Founded in July, Permias Princeton’s current members include the five Indonesian students on campus, as well as non-Indonesian members, said Stephanie Budijono GS, the group’s president. Though the Graduate School sponsors the group, Permias Princeton welcomes everyone, including “grad, undergrad, Indonesians, and non-Indonesians,” she said in an e-mail.

“Our vision is to share the rich cultures and heritage of Indonesia,” Budijono explained. “But we don’t want to make this organization strictly cultural,” she added, noting that she hopes to bring a lecturer on Indonesia to the University.

Permias Princeton is one of several recently formed student groups that represent Southeast Asian populations on campus. The Vietnamese Student Association (VSA) and the Malaysian and Singaporean Association (MASA) were both founded in fall 2007.

“Because there are so few Vietnamese students here at Princeton University, not too many students are exposed to opportunities or events that raise awareness of the Vietnamese culture, traditions, and history,” co-president and founder Kelley Tran ’10 said in an e-mail. “VSA is also a good way for the few Vietnamese students here to bond, unite, and share some common ground.”

VSA now has about 75 people on its mailing list, she said.

MASA, which was created last fall, was the result of the union of a small, informal Singaporean group and a handful of Malaysian students. It now has roughly 50 members, co-president Rui Zhang ’10 said.

The groups seek to raise awareness of the cultures of their countries among larger Asian student populations.

“Asia’s larger than just China and India,” Budijono noted.

Events are an effective way to share parts of a people’s heritage with the larger Princeton community, Tran said.

“A lot of people have had Chinese food and Dim Sum,” Tran explained. “Our study breaks and film screenings are a great way to promote Vietnamese cultural awareness.”

“They really are passionate about wanting us to understand their countries,” Chow said of the student groups.

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MASA has generated interest by teaming up with other student groups.

“We had a game night with the Hong Kong Students’ Association,” Zhang said. “A lot of non-Singaporeans and non-Malaysians came.”

The groups plan to coordinate smaller movie screenings and study breaks for members and other interested students, but they also aspire to host larger, campus-wide events.

VSA hopes to put on charity events once it can fundraise and increase membership, Tran said, noting that VSA is not as large as either the Chinese Students Association or the Korean-American Student Association, which has roughly 300 members, according to its website.

MASA is working on another game night with the Hong Kong Students’ Association, and it plans to hold more study breaks and movie nights, Zhang said.

Permias Princeton is still evaluating the results of Saturday night’s event, Budijono said, noting that the group plans to move forward with more arts events and intellectual discussions.

“Passport to Indonesia” was also sponsored by the Davis International Center, Lewis Center for the Arts, Department of Music, Graduate Student Government Events Board, Department of East Asian Studies, Office of Religious Life and Office of Muslim Life.